Most hotel web sites show you pictures of the rooms and suites, but they're often old, staged stock photos. Oyster Shots is a new photo-driven hotel search site that uses undoctored photos taken by Oyster staff to show what a hotel really looks like before booking.

Say you wanted to book solely on which hotel had the best-looking swimming pool. Use the keyword search to look for hotels in a specific city, for business hotels or family-friendly venues, or for specific amenities—for example, Los Angeles + pool. You can refine your search from the results page, narrowing the criteria with more amenities, specific hotel types, or the one-to-five pearl Oyster Rating.

If a hotel looks attractive, click the photo to read more about it, see pricing and availability, and book the room online. You can also share the photo and the hotel information on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, or by email. Create an account to save hotels that you like or want to review later.

Oyster Shots was developed by Oyster.com, which is already in the business of hotel reviews, booking, and package deals. If you think a hotel is passing a snapshot from 15 years as a current room photo, give the service a try.